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Old 2007.04.17, 06:02 PM   #81
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Originally Posted by justriiingo View Post
Adult is a huge move in a different direction for SR.
1. HZM's prolific craziness is gone.
2. Ukigumo can't play rock like Hirama.
3. SR was rushing a out a new album when TJ changed members.

So Adult is really just a clever solution to her circumstances. There's no way she can do whatever she did in Kyoiku anymore no matter how much she wanted to. So Adult; slow, chill-out, mature, "refined", Adult. SR is still a genius at problem solving, it's really her band members that's restricting her creativity.
Does SR really wanted another Kyoiku? She's been cutting back on the "J-Rock Queen" side of her career and Kyoiku is strictly a rock album.

Has Ukigumo done anything outside of SR and TJ? In another band or going solo? I dont want to be placing my judgment on him too soon. But yea he definitely cant rawk like Hirama; Can you picture Ukigumo acting like Hiramna in Dynamite out, having a roadie coming in and put a box/stool on stage just so he could pose with his foot on the box while playing "Ringo no uta" solo?

I vaguely remeber ages ago some members of the old forum mentioned that SR's really relying on HZM and Hirama to take an easy ride after all the efforts she put into KZK.
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Old 2007.04.17, 06:17 PM   #82
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^ Ukigumo actually tried rawking out like Hirama at the Countdown live. The result was pretty much the same though: Uki looking like a goofy ass.

I'm also a firm believer that having a band doesn't hold back creativity. It's just a lame excuse for her to not put as much effort into the TJ releases.
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Old 2007.04.17, 06:28 PM   #83
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Originally Posted by Kasanagi View Post
I vaguely remeber ages ago some members of the old forum mentioned that SR's really relying on HZM and Hirama to take an easy ride after all the efforts she put into KZK.
Really? Then why did she write 10 out of 12 tracks on the album? And that also means that HZM and Hirama had more to contribute to TJ than Izawa (who reused his old song as the piano solo on JCHI Honnou) and Ukigumo (who reused the jazz a go go guitar riff in Kenka Joutou, though you can argue that it's SR herself that is reusing it here, since she sings it out as well), right?

On another note: One of the reviewers I translated before mentioned that Adult is not a "genre" album. In other words, Adult is a "pop" album. And that doesn't usually connote good things unless we're back in the 1990s when they actually had decent stuff playing in the top20s.
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Old 2007.04.17, 07:46 PM   #84
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Originally Posted by justriiingo View Post
Really? Then why did she write 10 out of 12 tracks on the album? And that also means that HZM and Hirama had more to contribute to TJ than Izawa (who reused his old song as the piano solo on JCHI Honnou) and Ukigumo (who reused the jazz a go go guitar riff in Kenka Joutou, though you can argue that it's SR herself that is reusing it here, since she sings it out as well), right?

On another note: One of the reviewers I translated before mentioned that Adult is not a "genre" album. In other words, Adult is a "pop" album. And that doesn't usually connote good things unless we're back in the 1990s when they actually had decent stuff playing in the top20s.
...Ok you got me , I don't wanna go looking for quotes in the old forum (I don't even know where the old forum is...). But using one's own materials doesn't really indicates one's contribution/influence to a band; surely SR doesn't and can't control every note of every instrutment in any given songs. When she writes a song, will she tell Hirama to do a legato run note-for-note in a solo (SR shredding...?)?
Its about how much decesion making power a band member have at the end of the day to decide what a song will sound like, and I'd say SR has less power in Kyoiku compared to Adult.
I know nothing about piano so I can't say much about HZM, but don't you feel there's a more Hirama's main-stream/hard rock sound than's Shiina's alternative/grunge rock sound in the Kyoiku-era TJ?

Ukigumo rawking?
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Old 2007.04.17, 07:55 PM   #85
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Kasanagi, I don't know if you were at the old forum or not (poster -wise) so maybe you don't know that Hirama is more devoutly idolized than Shiina herself by the forum for the most part. So taking the "question Hirama" route is far bolder than my normal "question Shiina" route.

Now, if Shiina had less decision making power during Kyoiku (which by the sounds of it, I doubt) then it was inherently a good thing. See my most recent post in the Ringoran thread to get what I mean.

Now then, I'm not the truest Hirama fan about as I've really yet to hear through an entire album. But from what I've heard, hes just as experimental as Shiina. The main stram/hard rock sound you mention I've only ever heard from him in Dynamite Out, and I gotta say -- its pretty damned called for. Shiina clearly has let die her alternative grundge sound anyway.
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Old 2007.04.17, 08:20 PM   #86
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Tokyo Jihen is Tokyo Jihen, not The Shiina Ringo Band. It's only right that SR steps back and let the other members contribute.
And in Adult we see Uki's wonderful contribution in Toumei Ningen. Truly wonderful.
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Old 2007.04.18, 06:05 AM   #87
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Oh justriiingo you've done a brilliant job on understanding Chinese & expressing them in English. Some of the expressions you applied are what I can never think of as an English-as-second-language learner.

Some sentences can be fixed to sound more accurate, like:

如果有意拿樂譜來玩的朋友,
this means "if some of you can find the scorebook"

在在顯示出椎名林檎的能力和深度已讓她漸漸步入大師的行列
He didn't mention "in songwriting". He meant "Shiina Ringo's deftness and depth brings her closer to a level of mastery"

然而「SUPER STAR」又是一首不可多得的作品,
This sentence literally means "but Superstar is just another precious piece of work." He is simply giving a positive view towards this song. Can you think of an equivalence of the idiom 不可多得 in English?

The word 'contrast' is a good translation to 對立性 in my opinion.
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Old 2007.04.18, 07:46 AM   #88
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Thanks for the corrections Canto! I struggled with 不可多得, I completely forgot what it meant. I got "rare" from an online translator...

I think it's nice that the two music critics think highly of Adult, which is a more accessible album compared to Kyoiku. But I still like Kyoiku more.
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Old 2007.04.19, 07:07 PM   #89
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Adult is a more organic album, more contemplative. When songs from Adult come on, I stop whatever I'm thinking and let the song carry me elsewhere.

Kyoiku is more of a peppy series of wannabe hits, some scoring, some falling short. Not bad by any means, but I've got almost no emotional connection to it.
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Old 2007.04.20, 05:23 AM   #90
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Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
Kyoiku is more of a peppy series of wannabe hits, some scoring, some falling short. Not bad by any means, but I've got almost no emotional connection to it.
I think this description is suitable for both albums (well except the peppy thing, if I got what you meant with it). Referring to Adult as 'contemplative' is maybe too much, isn't it?

I think it's nice that the two music critics think highly of Adult, which is a more accessible album compared to Kyoiku. But I still like Kyoiku more.
Well I think both album are really accessible, but for different reasons. It's not surprising that critics thinnk highly of it, at least it's a step further production-wise and a good album compared to the average stuff that pop music reviewers have to check. Though I'm not sure that a rock music magazine would praise Kyouiku.
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